Deputy Information Minister Pius Hadzide has said the appointment of Kwame Owusu as the new Board Chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), is based on an excellent track record in his previous position at the Ghana Maritime Authority.
While at the Ghana Maritime Authority, he was accused of superintending over questionable expenditure, including spending a million cedis to renovate his official residence. He was also accused of using over GHc10,000 to host a lunch meeting for 17 people at a hotel he owns.
The government, through the Transport Minister, Kweku Ofori Asiamah, subsequently instituted a probe into the matter of which the report which has not been made public after 10 months.
Pressure has, since the new appointment of Mr. Owusu to GRA, been mounting on the President to revoke the appointment until the report on the investigations is made public.
Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), has been tough in its demands to have Mr. Owusu’s appointment revoked pending the conclusion of investigations.
Read:Revoke appointment of ex-Maritime boss as GRA board chair – GI
But the Deputy Information Minister in an interview on Citi FM described the president’s decision as a good one, justifying same on the claims that Mr. Owusu set a record in his previous position.
“If you go and check the track record of the gentleman in question, during his time at the Ghana Maritime Authority, his track record was quite impressive. The facts speak for themselves. In 2016, that organisation was making loses, revenue was about some GHc64 million and their expenditure was about GHc72 million.
“When Mr. Owusu assumed office in 2017, they made a revenue of GHc99 million and expended GHc66 million thereabout. The organisation was turned around into a profit-making organisation,” he said.
By 3news.com|Ghana